The Rituals
The rituals contained herein represent a degree of candor not usually found in a magical curriculum. They all have one thing in common-homage to the elements truly representative of the other side. The Devil and his works have long assumed many forms. Until recently, to Catholics, Protestants were devils. To Protestants, Catholics were devils. To both, Jews were devils. To the Oriental, the Westerner was a devil. To the American setder of the Old West, the Red Man was a devil. Man's ugly habit of elevating himself by defaming others is an unfortunate phenomenon, yet apparently necessary to his emotional well-being. Though these precepts are diminishing in power, to virtually everyone some group represents evil incarnate. Yet if a human being ever thinks that someone else considers him wrong, or evil, or expendable in the affairs of the world, that thought is quickly banished. Few wish to carry the stigma of villain. But wait We are experiencing one of those unique periods in history when the villain consistently becomes heroic. The cult of the anti-hero has exalted the rebel and the malefactor. Because man does little in moderation, selective acceptance of new and revolutionary themes is nonexistent. Consequently all is chaos, and anything goes, however irrational, that is against established policy. Causes are a dime a dozen. Rebellion for rebellion's sake often takes precedent over genuine need for change. The opposite has become desirable, hence this becomes the Age of Satan. Dire as this appears, yet when the dust of the battles settles what truly needed changing will have been changed. The sacrifices will have been offered, human and otherwise, so that long-range development might continue, and stability return. Such is the odyssey of the twentieth century. The acceleration of man's development has reached an epic point of change. The evasive theologies of the immediate past were necessary to sustain the human race while the higher man developed his dreams and materialized his plans, until the frozen sperm of his magical child could be born upon the earth. The child has emerged in the form of Satan-the opposite. The cold and hungry of the past produced offspring to till the fields and work the mills. Their cold will stop and their hunger shall end, but they will produce fewer children, for the by-product of the magician's frozen seed which has been born upon the earth will perform the tasks of the human offspring of the past. Now it is the higher man's role to produce the children of the future. Quality is now more important than quantity. One cherished child who can create will be more important than ten who can produce-or fifty who can believe! The existence of the man-god will be apparent to even the simplest, who will see the miracles of his creativity. The old belief that a supreme being created man and man's thinking brain will be recognized as an illogical sham. It is altogether too easy to dismiss Satanism as a total invention of the Christian Church. It is said that the principles of Satanism did not exist before sectarian propaganda invented Satan. Historically, the word Satan did not have a villainous meaning before Christianity. The "safe" schools of witchcraft, with their strict adherence to their horned-god-fertility-symbol syndrome, consider the words Devil and Satan anathema. They disclaim any association. They wish no comparisons to be drawn linking their Murrayite-Gardnerian-"neo-pagan"-"traditional" beliefs with Diabolism. They have expunged Devil arid Satan from their vocabulary, and have waged a tireless campaign to give dignity to the word witch, though that has always been synonymous with nefarious activity, whether as witch, or hexe, or venifica, or other. They wholeheartedly accept the Christian evaluation of the word Satan at face value, and ignore the fact that the term became synonymous with evil simply because it was (a) of Hebrew origin, and anything Jewish was of the Devil, and (b) because it meant adversary or opposite. With all the debate over the origin of the word witch, and the clear origins of the word Satan one would think that logic would rule, and Satan would be accepted as a more sensibly explained label.* Even if one recognizes the character inversion employed in changing Pan (the good guy) into Satan (the bad guy), why reject an old friend just because he bears a new name and unjustified stigma? Why do so many still feel it mandatory to disavow any connection with what might be classed as Satanic, yet increasingly use each and every one of the arts that were for centuries considered Satan's? Why does the scientist, whose academic and laboratory forebears suffered from accusations of heresy, mouth platitudes of Christian righteousness in one breath, while dismissing the concept of *Controversy over the origin of the English word witch is valid when one considers the etymology of the term in other languages: venifica (Latin), hexe (German), streghe (Italian), etc. Only in its English form has the word assumed a benign origin: wicca, purportedly meaning "wise." Any debate must center on recent claims that advance a positive and socially acceptable meaning for a term that has in all ages and most languages, meant "poisoner," "frightener," "enchanter,'' "spell-caster," or "evil woman." Anthropologists have shown that even in primitive societies notably the Azande, the definition of witch carries malevolent connotations. Therefore, are we to assume that the only "good" witchet in the world were English witches? This, however, becomes difficult to accept when one considers the term wizard, which stems from the Middle English wysard = wise, versus the Old English wican = to bend, from whence witch is supposedly derived. All in all, it seems to be an unsuccessful attempt to legitimatize a word that probably originated by onomatopoeia-the formation of a word that sounds like what it is intended to mean! Satan in the next, when the man of science owes his heritage to what had for hundreds of years been relegated to Devildom? The answers to these questions can be reduced to a single bitter charge: they cannot afford to admit to an affinity with anything that bears the name of Satan, for to do so would necessitate turning in their good-guy badges. What is even worse, the followers of the "Witchcraft-NOT-Satanism!" school harbor the same need to elevate themselves by denigrating others as do their Christian brethren, from whom they claim emancipation. The rites in this book call the names of devils-devils of all shapes, sizes and inclinations. The names are used with deliberate and appreciative awareness, for if one can pull aside the curtain of fear and enter the Kingdom of Shadows, the eyes will soon become accustomed and many strange and wonderful truths will be seen. If one is truly good inside he can call the names of the Gods of the Abyss with freedom from guilt and immunity from harm. The resultant feeling will be most gratifying. But there is no turning back. Here are the Rites of Lucifer ... for those who dare remove their mantles of self-righteousness. This page is part of the The Satanic Rituals book made by Anton Szandor LaVey.